Yesterday all the parents at Holly’s school got this STRANGER DANGER!!11!!1 email because some guy was driving slowly down the street and asked some middle school girls who were walking home if they’d seen his dog. He apparently had a business card he wanted to give them so they could call if they saw the dog. They refused to walk up to the car to take it, so he tossed it out the car window.
Everyone was up in arms! OH MY GOD. Teach your children to run away screaming from any stranger in a car who asks them for directions, dogs, help, anything. BE ALERT! The world needs more Lerts! (tm Mr. Friendly)
Of course, it turned out that the guy, um, lost his dog. And was driving around looking for him. The fact that he was handing out his business card with his damn NAME on it tipped me off to that right away.
I don’t know how I feel about that situation. We got a follow-up email today saying the police had “investigated” and determined there was no “danger” from the “incident.” But goddamn, what a shitty world we live in. When I was a kid, one of my parents was always driving around looking for a cat or sometimes for me, since I was prone to wandering. And they would surely roll down the window and ask kids in the street if they’d seen the missing mammal in question. I don’t think they were ever followed home by the police and questioned.
Do kids really get kidnapped by pedophiles more these days, or does email just allow school secretaries to go off half-cocked?
Running shit: I RAN FIVE MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING LAST NIGHT. TWICE. I wore my new shoes and they worked out fine. I almost think that running for longer periods of time is easier. I actually get to a point where I’m breathing hard, but it’s not unbearable, it just…is. And my ankles don’t hurt anymore. Now when I’m done with a run, the right things ache: my hamstrings, my calves, etc. I might be able to do this. Maybe. I don’t know. I will say I had no idea a 5K was only 3 miles. That is just stupid, I agree, but I never thought about it. I can do a 5K. I might have to walk 4.5K of it, but I can do it.
